The Four Founders
by hrdiana
Summary: When Tom Riddle was attending Hogwarts and researching on his lineage, he came across a book in 'fiction' section of the library. The book was supposedly written by Rowena Ravenclaw. He opened the book and decided to read without much of expectation...
1. Chapter 1: Godric

The Four Founders

It was a Sunday afternoon, Tom Riddle left the dark and gloomy library after weekend long excavation of precious documents and books. His head felt numb and his eyes were tired. The sun was unkindly glowing over his head and the court yard was awfully loud with other students. He didn't mine lesser minds' voice usually, but he was in a mad mood. Every noise bothered him. Every smell made him nauseous. Every lights caused pain. Every touch was deathly bothersome. However, he smiled back to ordinary looking girls who wove hands to him. He knew it was important for him to be 'likable' among girls. Girls were tricky. He would never try to understand them, nor he cared about them, but he knew he couldn't afford to offend girls. It would just cause him too much problem and headache in the future.

He knew if he was going to walk the hallway, he would consistently bump into people who want to say 'hi' to him. So, he turned his direction and walked to the grassy courtyard. He decided to just sit down under a tree and pretend to read. People usually didn't bother him when he was reading, not even professors bothered him. He sat down in a shade and leaned against the tree. He grabbed one of the book he borrowed from the library without thinking. currently, he was researching on the legend and stories of the four founders. He learned the resemblance of his power to the founder of Slytherin house. He wanted to know more and more about it, but the textbook only provided him little information. It was odd how the professor would spent weeks on the reformation of the Ministry, but spent only a class time for the founders of Hogwarts. He had to do his individual research on this matter.

One of the many books he borrowed was supposedly written by Rowena Ravenclaw. The Ravenclaw- the founder of House Ravenclaw. It intrigued Tom very much but the book was stored at the end of the novel section in the library. If this was a genuine story written by Ravenclaw, then it wouldn't be stored in the novel section, Tom thought. From the beginning, he knew the book didn't care much of credibility, but he was desperate. This book was one of few books that dedicated solely on the founders of Hogwarts. There were few other books, but those were not credible either. (One was written by one of ancestor of Lovegood family. He knew a student name Lovegood and he seemed like one hell of wrack job to Tom Riddle)

He opened the book. Its cover as pretty old and the papers were faded, but it was readable.

The Four Founders

Written by

R. Ravenclaw

For Memories of my dear friends

Godric, Salazar, and Helga

Tom snorted. He didn't know who wrote this, but he didn't believe this could be actually written by Ravenclaw. 'whoever wrote this really wanted to fool somebody,' though Tom as he turned the page.

November 12, 1098

I am dying. All my friends left the school we all built together. I am the last one remaining here. I have lived longer than I have expected. For the time on this world, I am more than grateful to met my friends. Now, they are all gone. It is my job to write about the truth of our story. Too many people are trying to glorify us. Hogwarts is used in the game of politic now. I wished I had more time to protect the legacy of my friends, but I am running out of my time. I must write the story with my own hands. So I am writing this…I just wish I can finish the journey I had with my friends before I die.

Chapter 1: Godric

I met Godric when I was twenty-three. I was living on the northern side of the wall that Roman Muggles built. There was nothing much in the north. My family died when I was very young and I learned magic by myself. There was nobody around me. I was a witch in the middle of mountain, surrounded by noisy Muggles. When I was young, I thought I was going die soon because of the curse: the legacy of my parents, until I heard the story of 'holy grail'. I was no believer of Muggle religion, but the rumors of this particular religion and the artifact were most singular and intriguing. The cup of miracle - the resurrected man - water turning into wine - endless food coming from a little bag, all of those sounded like higher form of magic to me. The most interesting thing was the cup of miracle, so called 'the holy grail'. I tried to find more about the rumor by bewitching some Muggles, but it was fruitless.

So, I sat out on a journey. My life was meant to be a short one and I had nothing to lose. So left the cottage my parents owned, and went to the south of the wall. It was the first village I arrived over the wall. I met Godric at a pub.

I was not an idiot. I knew the cultural difference between Muggles and magical beings. I carried small amount of Muggle's money. It was easier and energy conserving to buy the food than make one. Also, a pub and a town center were good places for information gathering. So, I was eating and drinking ale at a pub one night. I had a short hair and a hood over my head, so nobody suspected me as a woman.

Then, he came in. His blazing red hair was the first thing to draw all the attention to him. Then, his clothing was a tempting target for street thugs. He was dressed in silks and jeweled broaches. He sat down on a table next to me and put the bag of gold coins on the table. I could sense some people targeting on this ignorant rich brat.

"Ma'am? Can I have whatever you people eat and drink? I am not used to this area," said the rich brat.

"Sir, do you have the money 'our people' are using?" asked the pub owner's wife cynically.

"Yes," said the rich brat with a frown on his face, "you take these, right?" Then he took out a gold galleon from the pouch.

"Is that a gold?" asked the pub owner as he pushed his wife aside.

"Yes," said the rich brat. At this point, I knew he was in trouble.

With the sight of a golden coin in their eyes, Muggles stood up and slowly walked toward him.

"Excuse me, people?" said the rich brat, realizing something was not quiet right.

"Hey, lordling, do you mind sharing some of your golds?" asked one of the thug. He was holding a chair in his hand.

"Do you have something to offer me?" asked the rich brat.

"Well, how about this?" said the thug as he throw the chair on the ground and broke it into pieces, "You can be the next one."

"Huh," said the rich brat, "that was very rude."

Then He stuck his hand into his cloak and tried to pull out something. I didn't see everything, but I could guess what it was. I stood up and punched him in the face before he could pull the wand out from his cloak. The rich brat fell down on the ground and people looked at me with open mouth.

I knew this was the moment I had to use the spell. I pulled out my wand and pointed to air and said, "Oblivate."

Then all the Muggles in the room collapsed. I actually expected the rich brat to fell as well, but he didn't.

"Whoa, that was cool. You casted it on the whole room!" said the rich brat as he stood up, "But what was the point of punching my face?"

"For your stupidity," I said as I drew my wand in, "you don't use Galleon in Muggle's pub."

"Oh, really? I didn't know that," said he.

"That is why I punched you," I said as I grabbed the last piece of the bread and walked out of the pub.

"Oi, hey, hey, hey!" said the rich brat as he followed me out the pub.

I didn't look back. I just wanted to get away from him as soon as possible. I didn't want to involved with this guy. At one look, I knew he was a high lordling who ran out of his house in attempt for an adventure he may or may not get. I was on a journey to save my own life and didn't want to associated with a light-minded like him. However, he kept followed me in to the woods.

"I am Godric, Godric Gryffindor. I am actually from Ireland, the island that is west of the England," said the rich brat, "how about you? You sound like you are from north. Are you? Are you? What is your name? Hey, Missy?"

I ignored him and ignored him, but he kept went on and on about his story. I didn't pay attention to him. Now I think about it, I guess he was talking about 'school', 'children', 'Muggles', and some other stuff I didn't really care about.

"Really, Missy, talk to me. I am a nice person," said Godric, "It is my first time meeting other witches. What is your name? You seemed to know a lot about the Muggles."

I walked silently for hours, yet he kept talking for hours behind me. When the sun set, I found a cave by the cliff.I gathered some twigs and went into the cave. He still followed me.

"Let me help you, my lady," said him as he snatched the twigs in my hand and put it down on the ground. He pulled out his wand and pointed to the twigs.

"Incendio!" he casted spell on the twig and the twig was on the fire immediately. It was very basic magic, yet he looked to me and smiled proudly.

I sat down against the wall and observed him. Godric Gryffindor. He looked very stupid to me. He had this innocent face with sparkling green eyes. His hats, cloths, and shoes were all new. His wand had a red ruby stuck at the hilt. He was sending the vibe of wealth all around him.

"who are you?" I asked.

"Godric Gryffindor," said he, "I told you before. were you not listening?"

"No," I answered

"I thought so, Hiking this mountain is pretty hard thing. I understand you didn't pay any attention to me. I am from Ireland," said Godric.

"I know. I heard that," I said.

"So you heard me!" exclaimed Godric with excitement, "so, who are you? What is your name? I asked you a lot of times but you never speak."

"I don't give out my names," said I. One's name can be easily used as mean of cursing. I had my share of curse, and I didn't want another one.

"I gave you my name," said he.

"You are fool, then." I said.

Godric's mouth was sealed for the moment. I thought I could insult this guy away from my cave but it only made him more interested.

"Okay, then let me guess," said he.

"Oh god," I covered my face with my hands and groan in agony.

"You are….Alex?"

"No,"

"um…Babara?"

"No."

"Cathryn? Catherine? Cathy?"

"No, no, no."

"Diana?"

"No."

"Elizabeth?"

"No."

"Fredrika?"

"No."

"Georgiana?"

"No,"

"Helen? Helena?" Henrietta?"

"No."

"hold on, a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h, i…i…what woman's name starts with I?"

"It is Rowena!" I shouted.

"Oh! That is pretty name. Now, for the last name, is your last name 'Adams'"

"Ugh…" I put my head down and groaned.

"Okay, that is no. Then, B…B…Beowulf?"

"It is Ravenclaw!" I shouted again.

"Ah! Rowena Ravenclaw! That is a pretty name! I thought your name was something weird and you were embarrassed about it," said Godric, "I am guessing you are from north of the wall, based on your accent. So, why are you traveling?"

"None of your business," I said.

"Are you on a quest to slay a dragon or something like that?"

"Is that your quest?" I asked back.

"Oh, No, No, No. I am not on such a childish journey," refuted Godric.

"Then, I look like I am on a childish journey to you?"

"No, but it was good guess to start with." said Godric, looking at me all innocently. "I am on a quest to build a school. I am looking for a like minded wizards and witches to found a school for young children with magical powers."

"That is more childish than slaying a dragon!" I yelled at him.

"No, thinking of the future of the children is not childish. Only adults can think of such thing. I guess you are not so adult yet," said Godric, pricking my pride with every sentence.

I didn't know what to say and i had no desired to speak to him. I shook my head and looked away from him. Outside of the cave, it started to rain. It became foggy very quickly and chill creeped on me

.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

"No," I lied. I could feel my body growing cold very quickly. I crawled up and brought my knees closed to my chest. My chest started to hurt. I knew it was only temporary pain. Usually when rain stopped, the pain also stopped.

"Is it the rain?" he asked.

"No," I said with a shaky voice. Godric frowned and looked outside.

"Wait here a moment," said Godric and he put his red cloak around my body.

I heard his footsteps getting away from me and out of cave. I lifted my head up a little and squinted my eyes to see what he was doing. It was foggy, so I couldn't see it clearly but I saw him holding his wand up in the sky.

"Anapneo!" Godric shouted loudly.

I knew the spell. I often used it to remove obstacles on the pathway, but I never used it on the sky. I knew even if I used it on the sky, it wouldn't have done the same thing as Godric did on that day. When his spell was casted, there was a loud noise in the sky and the clouds started to clear up. Once there was light outside of the cave, he came back in.

"I blew the rainy clouds away from this area. Are you alright now?" He asked.

"How…how did you?" that was all I could say. The rain was gone and the pressure on my chest relieved instantly. A rush of air into my lung and blood started to pump again. Then, I lost conscious.


	2. Chapter 2: Godric

Chatper 1: Godric (Cont.)

After I collapsed in front of Godric in that cave, I had a long dream. Usually, my dreams are usually meaningless. I was no seer, but my mother was. So, time to time, I had my dreams, the real prophecy. Usually, it seemed rubbish and I had no hobby of meddling for the meaning behind my dreams for days. But, now I think about it – that dream I had was the prophecy of this school, Hogwart. I dreamt of a castle filled with students and I saw a young girl's face. In the dream, I smiled and called that girl, 'my littler daughter.' Back then, when I was twenty-three and ignorant bitch, I considered it as a meaningless dream. So I woke up from the dream in arms of Godric.

"Oh my holy! You are awake, finally!" said Godric. He was holding my head against his chest and smiled. "She is awake! She is awake!" cried Godric as he looked around. I didn't know who was he talking to at the moment. My head was all fuzzy.

"Oh! She is! I am so glad she woke up! I thought she was die because her heart didn't beat!" said another voice, a sweet, young girl's voice.

I turned my head away from Godric's chest and looked at the source of the sweet voice. I saw a young girl with blue hair. It was more of navy color, but her hair shined like ocean under the light. I didn't need to look any closer to that girl to figure out she was a witch, just like me. No muggle has a blue hair for naturally.

"I am alright," said I as I tried to sit on my own. Godric helped me, supporting my back and helped me lean against a wall. He handed me his red silky lobe as a blanket and I wrapped it around me. "Where is this place?"

"This is Vera's house," said Godric as he looked at the young girl. "I had no idea what to do after you collapsed, so I wondered around the wood and got lost. Then, Vera found me! She brought us to her house and helped me keep you warm. You went cold really quickly, you know."

"I do that," I replied to Godric. I turned to the girl and bowed my head, "thank you for your kindness. But, may I ask you where we are?"

"You are by actually near by York," said Vera as she sat down next to me. She handed me a bowl of soup with some sort of meat in it. "I don't know where we are exactly, but my brother will know better. He knows a lot of things! Oh, this is rabbit meat soup. I made it. My brother makes it better, but he is away right now…"

I took the bowl from Vera. She seemed to be a good girl and I knew she must went through a lot of trouble to make the soup. Godric was no hopeless in cooking or anything delicate, so there was no way he helped her. She seemed like only eight or nine years old. When I was eight, I didn't cook. I ate roots or fruits I found on grounds, so I knew how hard it was for a girl of her age to cook. The soup was good. It warmed up my cold stomach and body. Then, there was a knock on the door.

"Ooh, I will get it," said Vera as she got up. She went to the door and checked who was outside. Then she changed her hair color to brown and opened the door. "Hello, Mr. Taylor. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Hello, Vera. My wife said you brought two strangers to home last night and I came her to check on you," said the man by the door, "are those people your family?" he asked as he peeked into the house and saw me and Godric.

"Er…they are," Vera murmured. She was not a good liar. She couldn't make up any lies about us.

Then, Godric got up and walked to the door, "Hello, I am Godric. I am Vera's uncle."

"Uncle? I thought Vera was orphant," said the man as he squint his eyes.

"His long lost uncle," said Godric as he nodded his head, "She was my brother's only child and I finally found her after long journey."

"She has a brother," added the man again.

"I meant, my brother's only daughter. I have not met my nephew yet. I heard he went hunting. Such a nice young boy! Going out to hunt for his little sister!" said Godric as he put a hand over his heart, as if he was impressed by some holy existence.

"He is eighteen," said Mr. Taylor, "not a young boy."

"Oh, my good sir," said Godric as he shook his head side to side, "all of my nephews and nieces will be young and precious to me at any age. Don't you think your nephews or nieces are still a baby? Aren't they adorable? Aren't' they?"

"Well, my nephew is a baby, but yes, I see what you mean," said the man as he nodded to Godric. "I am glad your family finally found you, Vera."

The man and Godric talked for another minutes or so, the man wove his hands to Vera and left. Godric wove to the man until he was out of sight from the doorstep and closed the door.

"That man has a lot to talk," said Godric to Vera.

"Are you really my uncle?" Vera asked as she turned her hair back to her original navy color.

"Of course, all of us are related in one way or another," said Godric, ruffling her hair with his hand. "You are a metamorphmagus, aren't you?"

"Meta-what?" Vera asked.

"Metamorphmagus," repeated Godric, "they can change shapes of their body if they want to. Just like how you changed your hair just before. My father is actually one. It is really possible that we are related," said Godric with grin on his face.

"Are you…this meta..something as well?" Vera asked.

"No, I am not. I wish I was," said Godric, "But I am an Animagi. I turn into a lion! Do you want to see?"

"Okay, cut it out," I stopped Godric from pulling out his wand, "Godric, she is confused with your explanation. Just lookat her face!"

Vera looked like she has no idea what was going on. She looked at Godric with half-fear and half-curiosity. However, at the word of 'lion' and the peek of Godric's wand, her face became pale.

"Are you a witch?" she asked, shocked and confused.

"Well, I am a wizard," said Godric as he scratched his head with the end of his wand, "she is a witch, actually really talented one."

Vera took couple step back and covered her mouth with her hands. Her face turned pale and her eyes started to shake with terror. At that moment, I knew Vera didn't know anything about….our world. She slowly put her hands down and opened her mouth, ready to scream.

"Godric, silence her!" I shouted to Godric.

"What? Er…Silencio!" Godric shouted after a moment of hesitation. His spell worked right before she opened her mouth to scream loudly. Thankfully for the spell, she opened her mouth widely but no sound came out from her.

She held her neck with her hands and tried to scream more and more, but she couldn't speak a word. Tears started to roll down from her eyes and collapsed down on the ground. She kept opened her mouth and tried to shout, scream, whine, or do something. Her attempt was fruitless.

"Vera," said Godric as he knelt beside her, "I will give cancel my spell after I explain…this…um..situation. Keep trying to scream like this…it won't help you. It will just hurt your neck."

"Godric, don't try it," said I. I stood up on my two feet. I supported myself against the wall and balanced myself. "She won't understand anything we say. You heard the man – she is an orphan. She never had any education. She doesn't know…" I stopped. I meant to say 'she doesn't know she is a witch', but I knew it would only add on to her confusion.

Godric, who never stopped talking pretty much, knelt next to Vera and his lips were tightly closed. He looked at Vera for long time, then put his hand on her head. She flinched at the touch of Godric.

"Vera, we will leave now," said Godric with much calmer voice than his usual, "please don't scream, okay?" He put his want by Vera's neck and murmured the cancel spell.

Vera touched her neck and made a small noise. After she heard her own voice, she seemed much relieved, but still frighten with Godric and me.

"Rowena," Godric turned to me as he put his wand into his cloth, "let's go."

I nodded and walked to Godric. I stumbled but Godric catched me before I fell. He supported me on my side as we walked out of Vera's house. As I stood by the door, I turned to see Vera. She was still sitting on the floor, half crying, half scared. Her eyes didn't leave on us. Godric and I left the house and closed the door behind us. We walked around the house and walked toward the forest. Godric almost carried me up the hill, away from the village where Vera lived. After we got far enough from the village, he put me down by the tree. From a far, we could see Vera's house and a young man coming in to the house. Shortly after that, we heard the cries of Vera. She cried hard and loudly.

Godric and I watched her brother came out from the house with a bow and arrows in his hands, shouting around the village, calling for 'damning witches'. After a moment of fuss, he went back to the house and closed all the door and windows of the house.

"He is a good brother," said Godric quietly. "He is trying to protect his sister."

"Protecting her from what? They are wizard and witch. They can't protect from what they are already," said I cynically.

"They don't know, just like you said. They don't know they are not muggles," said Godric. He ran his hand over his hair and ruffled his head as he groaned. "I hate this sooooo much!"

"There is nothing we can do," I said in attempt to make him feel better, "it is how it is. They are must be half-blood, union between pure blood and the muggle lover. Pure-blood won't take in the half-blood as their children but the muggle lover wouldn't raise the child with magic. Humans don't want to understand anything slightly different from what they perceive as normal. They just abandon their children because they are different. They are pathetic."

"Not all humans are like that," said Godric as he turned to me. He smiled faintly, trying to hide his pain with a crooked smile. "Some humans are good."

"Are they?" I asked, without expecting answer.

"They are. They just…don't know what to do with their children. Also, children don't know what to do with themselves as well…"

I watched Godric…pondering in his own words. He was deep in his head, possibly remembering his youth. After a moment of silence, Godric smiled big again and turned his head toward the village, looking at Vera's house.

"I want to build a school for children like Vera. If they know how to handle their power and talent, then their will be less children abandoned because they are different in the future," said Godric. "Don't you think that is a brilliant idea, Rowena?"

He smiled. His smile made him looked 80% stupider than what he already was, but when he smiled back then – as he spoke of his idea – he glowed. It was a new thing for me back then. There was nothing in the world that interested me, except for possible medicine or rumor that could extend my fragile and weak life. His words…his vision was something new to me…something that made me wondered what else was out in the world other than instinct for survival.

However, it didn't make me interest in building a school or making the world better at the moment. I just thought it was Godric's goal, not my business or goal to share. It was actually few more events later, when I actually decided to share Godric's vision and his goal.


	3. Chapter 3: Godric

Chapter 1: Godric (Cont.)

After we left Vera's village, we head south. Actually, I was heading south and Godric was followed behind me. I stopped several times and asked him why he was following me, and he said:

"I want to see what you are going to do."

I told him to go to his own way but he said it didn't matter which way he takes, as long as he is heading toward his goal (which, at the moment, didn't make any sense to me). After a day of verbal quarrels, I gave up and let him follow me. After walking through moutains and meadow for five days, we arrived at York. Back then, York was not like present day's York. Back then, York was a river port for Vikings, savage beasts from northern sea. There were under constant threats from Anglo-sexon king from south to take over York, so the area was constantly in small battles.

I never liked Vikings, or their sorcerers, as they called their magical individuals. It was no wonder Vikings were obessed with Dark magics and curses. Without their own ugly Dark spells, they had no chance defeating against Romans and their Greek orthodox magicians. The colder and snowier the environment gotten for Vikings, they sought more savage magic. My parents were actually fans of Viking spells and books. My mother thought she was actually a member of Vulchanova family in Norway, infamous for inventing curses and torture spells, because she was good with curses. I…never liked them.

At the sight of the Viking ships by the bay and the Viking dragon flags flopping in the air, I didn't want to go down to York, but I wanted to get on the ship. There were other ships from other parts of Europe's mainland. Also, sailing with Vikings wasn't so much of problem. They were good sailors and strong fighters. I just didn't like them much. However, the problem was the weather.

"Rowena, it seems like it is going to pour down again," said Godric.

"Shoo them away, like you did before," I told him.

"Well, I wish I could but I can't. The clouds are too thick. I think we have to get you to somewhere…well…comfortable," said Godric with caution. He never asked me about my condition, even though he saw me collapsing and unconscious. I was grateful of his kindness and decided to not tell him about it. I was not comfortable talking about my condition back then. Like I said, I was young and ignorant. I was very immature as a person. I wanted to erase my past and I thought ignoring it would do it.

I looked up in the sky and saw the dark clouds gathering closer. I thought I heard a fainted sound of thunder as well. I nodded to Godric and headed down to York. York was better smell city. Bones of fishes and blood of sea creatures were on the ground, mixed with muds and shits. The Viking sailors were all covered in hair and fries were hanging around them. I covered my nose with one hand and clenched my heart with another one. The thunder was getting louder and I knew it was going to pour down again. Thankfully, Godric found an inn, very small one.

"Ye two?" the woman in the door asked. She had crooked grey teeth, typical of fish-eaters.

"Yes," Godric answered.

The grey teeth woman looked at both of us and snorted. She handed Godric a key, "ye need te keep it down, go' it?"

Godric and I didn't know what she meant, but the meaning of her words became pretty clear when we entered our room. There was only one bed, pretty cozy one. Godric had no idea what it meant to give a one bed room to two person party, so he started to snoop around the room. I knew what it meant very clearly.

"Godric, go down and change the room," I said to Godric.

"Why? I like it," said Godric as he looked around the room, "it is pretty cozy and the bed looks pretty comfy too. You lay down like a rock when you are out, so it is good to be on a comfy bed."

"You have no idea what this means, aren't you?" I asked. Godric frowned and tilted his head to the side, as if he was trying to be cute or something. I sighed and explained, "the woman thought we are a couple. I am not interest in sharing my bed with you, so you better get down and change the room!"

Godric finally realized the meaning of the one bed room and his face turned red, well more of his ears only. He nodded and swiftly went out of the room. I sighed and sat on the bed, waiting for Godric to come back with another room key. Then, the rain started. The pain crept in suddenly. With the thunder, there was sharp pain sticking my chest. I clenched on the my chest and pressed it hard, hoping it would stop the pain. The pain was severe, just like always had been, and it started to paralyze my lungs, my throat, and my tongue. I gagged, and gasped. I chocked on air eventually and lost my conscious eventually. I fell on the bed and my eyes closed.

When I opened my eyes again, it was an early morning. My neck felt numb and my chest was sore. There was sour taste in my tongue. I tried to breath in, but then my lung felt like it was tearing into pieces. I looked around and I was still in that one bed room. The door was opened as Godric left it as he walked out earlier. His stuffs were all in the same place, including his bags, his hat, and his sword. I didn't know what was going on for a moment, until I heard footsteps coming toward the room with clinkering of irons. Soon, five Viking soldiers came in to the room.

"Who are you people?" I asked, still annoyed and in pain from earlier incident.

"Are you a traveling companion of Godric Gryffindor?" One of the soldier asked with serious voice. He was a foot taller than me and he was staring down on me.

"No," I lied. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew I had to pretend I didn't know Godric. It was not a good idea to know someone who was searched by authority, especially muggle authority. However, my lies were discovered shortly.

"Captain, this is the sword that was described in the order," said one of the other soldier, pointing at Godric's fancy sword. The soldier grabbed Godric's bag next and searched through inside. There, he found couple of document I never saw before. The soldier unfolded the document and showed it to the soldier who asked me the question. "It is definite that this is belonged to Godric Gryffindor."

The soldiers stared at me. I knew I was in a trouble. I moved my head toward inside of my robe to grab my wand, but the soldiers responed and seized me before I could reach my wand. They pinned me down on the bed and tied my hands together.

"You are need to be testify your relationship with the fugitive Godric Gryffindor," said the soldier as he pushed me out of the room. Another soldiers grabbed both of Godric's and my bags and followed behind.

"Hey, hey, you don't know anything. I am nothing to do with him! I don't know what kind of trouble he got himself into, but I have nothing to do with me!" I said, well, actually more of yelling. But, I was pushed and pulled to the center of the town. At the center of the town, I was pushed to kneel on my knees.

I was totally surrounded by soldiers and there was no civilians wandering around the town center. There was a big podium in the center of the town with a tree trunk. I knew the purpose of tree trunk – it was where they behead or cut one's hands off. There were bloodstains on the tree trunk and an axe resting behind the trunk.

"You know what? I didn't do anything at all," I said to the soldiers, but they didn't responded to me. "Hey, do you hear me? I didn't do anything wrong!"

"That is not for you to decide," said one of the soldier. "you will be questioned by Commander Nicolason."

"Nicolason?" I asked, but the soldier didn't need to answer. I was able to see this Commander Nicolason soon. He was wearing a big iron helms and wore an armor made with seashells and leather of seals. He had a big shield on his back. He walked behind the podium and looked down at me.

"Is this the accomplice of the thief?" said Commander Nicolason.

"This man is sharing a room with the thief and had the thief's stolen goods in the possession, but he is rejecting all relationship with the thief," said the soldier. I didn't know exactly what was going on, but I was able to guess that Godric was somehow taken as a thief and I was taken as his accomplice. Also, I was mistaken as a man, which was better in this situation. Vikings were known to take anyone with breasts.

"I didn't have his bag in my possession. I didn't know he was a thief! I met him few days ago!" I yelled in defense of myself.

"You met this man a few days ago, but you are sharing a bed with him?" Commander asked, "my man found you in his chamber's bed."

"He was going to get a room with two bed, or a separate room! I just fell a sleep on his bed because I was tired from my journey!"

"You are just keep coming up with new excuses, aren't you?" said Commander as he rolled his beard around his finger. "The trial will happen tomorrow. You will be trialed on the crime of stealing and sodomy. Take this man to the cell!"

Two soldiers grabbed my arm and raised me up. They pulled me away from the town center, toward a dungeon. I turned my head around and screamed, "Sodomy? Are you kidding me?" I yelled some more with offensive words, but there was no stopping of two soldiers.

I was thrown into a cell in a dungeon. Thankful, I still had my wand in my robe so I knew I could get out of the cell whenever I wanted. I could turn those soldiers into a pair of pigs, but I decided to conserve my power and wait for the night to come. I sat down and lean against the wall and I heard the familiar voice, the voice I just wanted to punch in the face.

"Heyyyy, Rowena," said Godric from a corner of the cell. He was sitting in a dark, beaten up pretty badly. "Nice to see you here."

He smiled. His smile was crooked because one of his cheek was swollen up pretty badly and his lips were bloody. I knew his words were genuine because he didn't have his wand on him. His silky robe was stripped away from him and he was in a simple tunic and a pants.

I stood up from where I was sitting and walked closed to Godric.

"Rowena?" He wondered. I stood frong of Godric and touched his lip. I wiped the blood off from his lip and caressed his bruised cheekbone. He seemed to be relaxed by my touch and felt at ease. "Rowena, if you can use the magic to fix my nose, that would be really wonde…"

before he could finish his word, I kicked him in the face.

"Ow, ow, ow!" He yelped and crouched down as he grabbed his face. I saw a good amount of blood dropping on his hands and the ground. "Ow!" he shouted again as he only turned his eyes toward me to look at me.

"You…YOU!" I spoke as my teeth clenched together. I kicked him few more times on his back as he crouched into little ball to protect his already mashed up face.

"Rowena, stop! Please! Augh! Ah! You are going to kill me!" He screamed and bagged. Did I stop? No. I didn't stop.


	4. Chapter 4: Godric

Chapter 1: Godric (Cont.)

After I kicked Godric until he rolled himself into a little ball and groaned in pain like an animal, I ceased it. Not because I felt bad for him or didn't want to hurt him, but I just simply tired. If I had more strength, I am sure I probably broke his spine or another bones. I turned away from Godric and walked to the wall and sat down. I felt the coldness of the brick wall against my sweaty neck and head. I breathed hard and watched Godric raising his head up in a cautious manner.

"Are you done hitting me?" Godric asked, still protecting his face and head with his arms

"No," I answered, "give me few minutes to catch up my breath, then I will kill you for sure." I was mad and tired. I was breathing like an animal, but my lung didn't seem to getting enough air. It was no surprise. I was dragged here and there and thrown into a jail after I went through my crisis. My chest was still bit numb and my throat was tightened from the earlier. I knew I wouldn't be able to stand up and hit him for while, so I grabbed one of the pebbles on the ground and threw it at him.

"Seriously? You are throwing things at me now? Isn't your bare feet enough?" Godric said as he looked at the pebble that didn't make it to his head. He grabbed the pebble and threw it in the air and catch. He leaned against the opposite wall and wiped blood off from his face. I broke his nose from earlier kicking. "Will you at least stop the bleeding?"

"No," I said.

"Okay, fine," said Godric as he put his hands up in the air and dropped it. "I know you are mad at me because you are dragged here because of me, but don't you think you should listen to my story first? I am the innocent one. I am falsely charged here too! There was no need kicking and throwing."

"Your story? YOUR story? I don't have to listen to your story to know you are a troublemaker. Okay, even if you didn't steal those things, then how come somebody reported what you have exactly to those Vikings? That must be done by someone closed to you, someone who hates you. Anyone who got hated by this much must have done something terribly wrong!" I said in anger.

"It is a goblin!," replied Godric in the same angered manner. This took me by surprise.

"A goblin? Why would a goblin report you of thieving?" I asked.

"It is a long story. I asked Ragnuk, a Goblin lived near my house, to make me as word with the heart of Phoenix, the ruby in the hilt of the sword. It was a family heirloom. Anyway, I gave him all the specifications and money properly, but this Ragnuk decided to keep it for himself. I kinda beat him up and took the sword, because it is mine. Then, he started calling a thief and he told my father, and my father found out what I have done with the family heirloom. He yelled at me and we had a fight. So I just left home with the sword and few other things," said Godirc very casually, as if it was not much to discuss at all.

"So, this Ragnuk the Goblin sent the words out in the muggle world to find you and take the sword?"

"Yes, I think so. Oh, but it can be my father. When I left, I took his money and property document as well," he answered me causally once again, with his shoulder shrugged.

"You..took what?" I asked for clarification on the latter part of what he had said.

"Money and property document, you know – the land, estate thing. My father is wealthy so he has many estates all around the world. I figured I would need a place to build a school, so I just took one of his estates in Northern Britain. I have never been there, but it seemed to be a quiet nice place with a big lake and forest. I always thought children should be exposed to natures more often," said Godric as he tilted his head in his thinking position. I frowned at the sudden reveal of his plan, but he ignored it and kept rambling about it. "You know, I was thinking about having couple of courses outside in forest or in lake. I will definitely have the glasshouse outside, but I am not sure what to do with the lake. I think some mermen live in that lake, but I don't think they will cooperate with me to teach mermen's language to children. I guess it is not necessary at all…but I wish they would at least let students observe their behaviors. That would be really fun class, the care of magical creatures. What do you think of that, Rowena?"

"You stole money and property?" I asked back for confirmation. I didn't care about his plan at all. I was just trying to make sense out of everything, especially about Godric.

"Yes, yes. I did. But that is no big deal. He has a castle in Ireland. He is a lord of a town of muggles. I am sure he wouldn't mine me taking things from him. I mean, I am his son."

"I don't care," I said, "you are actually a thief!"

"I mean…well…but it was going to be mine once he died. Does it still count as stealing?"

"YES! It does!" I shouted at him. Then the guard heard my words and walked toward our cell. Both Godric and I heard the noise and put our heads down.

When the guard stood before our cell, he frowned and tapped the bar with his spear and warned, "stay quiet." And walked away.

We both remained quiet until the footstep of the guard faded in the hallway. I raised my head up and looked at Godric and frowned. Godric also raised his head and looked at me. He saw me frowning, but he just smiled. He then stood up and walked toward me and sat next to me. He put his head against my shoulder, resting his bushy red hair against me.

"So, when are you going to break out?" he asked quietly.

"I am breaking out tonight," I said, "you are going to stay here."

"What, no!" he said quietly, "they said they are going to cut my hands off if they found me guilty. Are you really going to let them cut my hands off? Hmm?"

"I really don't care what they do to you," I replied, also quietly.

"You are really mean," he said.

"I know I am, and I intend to stay this way," I said.

"Okay, but we can't let them take the sword. The heart of Phoenix is actually a very powerful. You wouldn't let those Viking savages or Goblins to take hold on such thing, right?" Godric said as he leaned closer to me, so he could talk quieter.

"Well, I will just look for that sword and take it with me. I don't need you for that. You don't even know where the sword is now," I replied.

"Here is the good part," said Godric as he grinned. "I am actually the only one who can use that sword. I charmed it, so only Gryffindors can touch it, if it is touched by magicians or magical creatures. Muggles can touch it, but it won't even cut a paper. So, you will need me to take the sword from the possession of Vikings."

"If it is charmed, then those Viking sorcerers wouldn't be able to touch as well, why would I care to take it away from them then?" I asked, defuting his weak persuasion.

"If…if they kill me or I get weaker from..let say…my hands cut off and bleeding heavily," said Godric with the voice full of trickery and sarcasm, "the charm will be weaker and they..might be able to touch it…you know…, mm?"

I remained silently, tried to think if that would be possible. I didn't know what kind of charm Godric put on that bloody sword, but I knew there are some magic that loose its power after certain period of time. Also, I had to put in the factor that Viking sorcerers were skilled in curses, and also breaking protective spells. I never heard of any specific power possessed by the heart of Phoenix (since Phoenix is immortal, I wasn't sure how it was possible to even have the heart of Phoenix), but it sounded pretty dangerous to be ended up in a wrong hand.

I thought in several different options and simulation, but I couldn't easily ignore Godric's proposal and information. After all, it was his sword. It was safer to believe him than my logic based on limited information.

"ugh…okay, once the moon is high, we will break out from this jail. Then you will find that sword and your belongings and leave this town right away, got it?" I told Godric.

"Sounds good to me," he said, then he paused. "Is there any way you can fix my nose now? It is actually hard to breathe though my nose now."

"No," I said, "You need to suffer some more."

"Ughhhh" he groaned in pain.

That night, when the moon was high and the guards were dozing off, I pulled my wand out and pointed at Godric's nose.

" _Episkey_ " I casted spell on his broken nose and Godrics broken nose bones started to heal and put together. The open scar on his nose and other parts of his face healed, too. _"Ferula_ " I casted another spell on his back. He kept complained that I broke his shoulder bone, or collar bones, so I just decided to fix it.

"Thank you," said Godric, "but can you clear up these dry blood as well? They are sticky."

"You look so much better covered in blood," I said to him and turned around and walked slowly toward the door. I heard Godric complaining quietly behind my back, but I ignored it. I looked around the hallway for any signs of guards or other living creature roaming around. After I checked the hallway was clear, I pointed my wand at the door and said, " _Portaberto_ "

Portaberto spell did open the locked door but it left the smokes. However, it wasn't much and it didn't really matter now that we were out of the cell. I had my wand and I didn't care how muggles would be puzzled at our escape or even realize it before we got away. All I cared was get the hell out of York as soon as possible.

"I think they must have keep the sword somewhere secure, like a vault or something like that," said Godric as he got out of the cell after me.

"Well, let me try this. _Accio the Sword of Gryffindor_!" I said with my wand casted up in the air.

Godric and I waited in the hallway, waiting for the sword to come toward us, but we heard no sound.

"I think that spell wouldn't work on the charmed sword," said Godric after we remained silent for couple minutes.

"Well, that means we have to look for it ourselves," said I as I put my wand inside of my robe. "Let's get out of this jail first. I think I saw a door with sturdy lock when I was at the town center. It was connected to the jail."

We went up the stairs. There were guards sitting by the door, but they were all sleeping and snoring. Godric and I swiftly walked passed them and hid ourselves behind a tree. I looked around and saw another two guards sitting by a big door with stilled lock. I looked at Godric and he nodded, sign that he saw the door as well.

The problem was that I wasn't sure if I could open the lock without waking any guards up. Portaberto skill had to be used to open the lock, but that spell sparked and made sounds and also smoke. I pointed Godric to go around the town center to the back of the building. I was going to unlock one of the window and got into the vault through the window. Godric seemed to understand me and nodded.

I looked around again, clearing the pathway. Then I slowly walked away from the tree. Then, I heard a big nose from behind me. I looked back and it was Godric…holding a stick in his hands and hit heads of sleeping guards.

"Hey, I put them to sleep for sure," he said, loudly so I could hear him from across the town center.

"ugh," I said as I put hand over my forehead. I thought Godric got my plane to be discrete, but I was hoping too much from him. "I did all the hand motion so we can go through a backdoor or a window, you idiot!"

"Backdoors and windows are for thieves! I am not thief," said Godric as he put hands over his chest to show how proud and innocent he was. "Also, if they wake up, then I will beat them up to sleep again. Just get over here and open this door, Rowena."

"I am not sure if you are an idiot or just brave dumb head," I said as I walked toward the vault. I pulled my wand out and pointed to the steel lock on the door and said, " _Portaberto!_ "

The lock unlocked itself with a spark and smoke. Godric pulled the lock away and opened the door, as making creaking sounds all around the town.

"I would rather be the brave dumb head than an idiot," said Godric as he walked into the vault.

I shook my head and sighed, and then I followed him into the vault. The vault was dark. There was no window at all. Even if we went around the building to find a window to break into, we wouldn't have found it. I sort of appreciated Godric's bold action, which saved the time for searching for non-existing window for a moment.

"Rowena, light please," said Godric.

" _Lumos_ " I said. I held my wand up high so it would light up the surrounding.

"AH!" Godric exclaimed as he pointed to a corner, "YOU!"

"What is it?" I asked as I turned to the direction Godric was pointing, and I saw goblins. About ten goblins gathered at the corner of the vault. One was wearing Godric's hat over its ugly bold head and other two was holding the sword with red ruby on its hilt together.

"They got the sword!" Godric shouted as he ran toward them. As Godric ran toward them, they all jumped and hanged on to the wall.

I quickly closed the door behind me and whipped my wand in the air, so the light of Lumos was floating in the air, freeing my wand from being a candle. I pointed my wand at the goblin that was holding the sword in its mouth.

The vault was not big, but it had a tall ceiling. Those goblins grabbed onto the wall and looked down on us from the ceiling and walls. They all looked confused for a moment, then their eyes turned narrow and cold. They started to mumble something quietly at first, then it got louder and louder. Eventually, I could hear what they were saying simultaneously.

"Godric the Thief! Godric the Thief! Godric the Thief!"

Those goblins' chanting soon filled the air and echoed in the vault. They eyes focused on Godric and me.

"Uh-oh" said Godric as he looked at me in the eyes and said, "we are in trouble."


	5. Chapter 5: Godric

Chapter 1: Godric (Cont)

Goblins hanged on the wall, like spiders, and looked down on us. Godric looked nervous. His eyes were fixed on the sword. He lowered his stand and prepared for attack from goblins. I, too, pulled my wand out and kept my eyes on those goblins, ready for sudden attacks, but all of them seemed to be focused on Godric.

"Oh, we hates thief! Oh, we hates thee, Godric Gryffindor!" One of the goblin sang.

"Godric the thief," others chanted. "Give us your gold and silver! Godric the fair blood! He fooled our innocent master and stole his sword!"

"I didn't steal it from Ragnuk!" Godric yelled at them. I thought he had better sense to not aggravate already aggravated goblins, but he was Godric. He was too brave to act smart.

"Oooh, he lies too! He is a liar!" They chanted all together. To think of it, they would have make an excellent singing group. However, I was more taken by the finger stand they did as they sang.

Goblins were different breed from wizards. Their magic are powerful and more apt to combating, or making weapons for combating. They didn't need wand or any medium to link their magic to the target. I had my wand in my hand, but Godric was the problem. His sword and all of his belongings were taken from him, and it was impossible to dig into the files of 'collected' items in the vault.

"Godric, it is coming!" I shouted when I saw a blue lights came out from their fingers. All the lights pointed to Godric. I quickly hid myself behind a box.

"Ugh!" I heard Godric's voice and a sound of several box falling down on the ground.

For the moment, I thought Godric was captured by Goblins, then I felt a cold touch on my neck. I turned around and ready to cast Crucio spell, then I saw face of Godric.

"Whoa, you almost poked my eye out!" Godric whispered.

"Why are you here?" I whispered back.

"To protect you, of course!" Godric said as he grabbed my shoulder, "are you alright?"

"You," I said as I pushed Godric's hand away, "being here is putting me in danger. Those Goblins wants you, not me!"

"Well, actually I am here to ask you a favor," he grabbed my hand and looked me in to the eyes, and whispered.

"Favor?" I asked.

"Can you distract them until I get my sword back?" He said and he saw my face turned cold and anger, then quickly added, "I won't be long. As soon as I get my sword, I will clean this mass up, really."

"Are you kidding me? How can I take them all down? I never fought Goblins before!" I asked back, in intention of refusing the offer.

"It is actually easy," he said, "use protégo spell. Their magic will not pass through. I know, I tested it before. Then use the Fumo to cover their vision. They can't attack you if they can't see you."

"How do you even know that?" I frowned. Goblins never lived in harmony with humans before, therefore it was unknown to many on how to attack or defend oneself from golins.

"How do you think I got out from Ragnuk's underground dungeon?" Godric replied with a face of innocent child with a smirk.

"So, you stole it from him?" I asked.

"Nooo! I didn't! He just didn't let me go, so I had to force myself out of that place."

"There they are!" shouted one of the goblin as Godric finished his…not so detailed explanation.

We both heard several small footsteps of goblins jumped toward us. Godric quickly pat my shoulder and nodded and went off. I looked around and saw the big shining eye balls of goblins fixed on me and lifting their fingers up in the air.

"Oh, shit!" I pulled my wand out, " _Fumos Duos_!" I shouted and black smokes poured out from my wand. With the sudden smoke, goblins shouted in shock and anger. I crawled away with my hand covering my mouth. I reached at the corner of the vault and pointed the wand at myself and casted the protection spell, " _Protego!_ "

I heard squeaky sound of goblins as they tried to communicate in their language. I didn't understand a word of their language, but I could tell they were irritated and dumbfounded by the smoke spell.

'I should have just used _Fumos_ , not _Fumos Duos_. It is too dark and thick of smoke now,' I thought. My wand was still pouring the smoke out and there was nothing I could do to stop it. 'Godric wouldn't be able to find the sword in this darkness,'

"Kyak-Ahk!" screamed one of the goblin from afar. With the screaming, the other goblins shouted and jumped toward the source of the screaming.

"I got it, Rowena!" Godric shouted from afar, where the goblin screamed earlier.

Then, there was sound of wind whooshing. I heard thin metal cutting through the air and leaving irritating scratching sound behind. My wand was still spatting out the smokes but I could see a shining red light in the smoke. That red light danced in the dark smoke. As it moved across the air, the screaming of goblin and smell of blood came after. The sound of blood dropped on the ground and wall as it danced round and round. It cut through the air and smoke, left bits of empty spaces for me to witness what was going on.

I couldn't see a lot, but I saw the green eyes of Godric turned sharp like the sword and his movement was swift and strong like wind. Also, I saw the shining red ruby on the hilt of the sword moved across the air as Godric cut goblins down.

"Rowena, you can stop this smoke spell!" Godric shouted. I was so captivated by the dancing red light, I took me a while to respond to his voice.

"I can't!" I shouted back to him.

"What? Why? Whoa! Ughhh," shouted Godric. His voice was out of breath and shaky.

"Just focus on fighting them!" I shouted back at him, trying to avoid answering his question. I looked at my wand and it was still spitting the black smoke. I wacked it against the ground several times to stop it, but all I did was break the wand. "oh, great. Just great." I said sarcastically.

Thankfully, the smoke stopped spitting out from the wand. The protection spell was still intact but I didn't know how long it was going to last. I slowly got up on my feet, but still leaned against the corner of the vault. The smoke was still heavily covered the vision and I touched the wall of the vault to walk toward the door slowly. I didn't mean to leave Godric alone with goblins, but I broke my wand and I was not in a fighter's physical states. However, my plan of escape went down as well.

"There is smoke from the vault! Call more guards!" shouted guards outside.

"These guys are attacked! We are under attack!" said another one.

Humans started to run around and gathered outside. I saw the lights getting brighter outside, probably from the lamp and fires of human.

I looked around and saw Godric still fighting goblins. There were only three goblins left now, and they were just shooting curses at Godric, and Godric dodging them and reflected with this sword. The smoke was getting thinner as it escaped through the gap of door.

"We have to open the door to the vault!" said a muggle.

"Oh,no." I said as I pushed door against. I looked around, tried to find any way out of this place at all. The smoke was heavy and I couldn't see Godric apart from goblins running at him.

"The door's lock is broken!" said a guard over the door. "Push the door!" The guard shouted.

I felt the door was pushed and I knew I wouldn't be able to hold it any longer. So, I used my last resolution. I knelt down on my knee and put my hand on the ground, and I used disapparition.

With whooshing sound, everything in the room went through disapparition. It got dark at first, then I was going through the tight channel with the rest of the room. I could see the distorted face of Godric over the channel. The pressure was great. It pressed hard on my head, my face, and my chest. I felt like I was fainting and suffocating. Then, I fell on the ground, with goblins, Godric, and the rest of the boxes from the vault. We were in the middle of the forest.

I coughed hard as I hunched my back like a cat. I never liked that pressure at all. My muscles tightened up again and my heart was throbbing in pain.

"What? What is this place? Where are….Rowena!" Godric fell couple feet away from me. He looked around the place and shouted in confusion. Then, he saw me, coughing behind his back. He came to me at once and checked on me.

"I am…fine…"I squeezed my voice out of my neck. I took a deep breath, feeling the air scarping inside of my throat as it went in and inflated my lungs. It was painful.

"Was it you? Did you use disapparition spell on all of….the room?" He asked as he looked around. The boxes, the injured bodies of goblins, as well as not injured goblins were all fellen on the ground in the middle of the forest.

I nodded and took couple more deep breath. I felt better slowly, but still in bits of pain. I also looked around and saw the mass I had made.

"Ugh! What…what is this!" then unfamiliar voice came out.

Both I and Godric turned to the source of the voice. There was the two muggle guard who tried to open the door of the vault. I accidentally disappariated with them as well. They were too closed to me when it happened. They held their spears and looked alarmed at Godric. I was still coughing and feeling dizzy.

"Rowena, where are we exactly?" Godric asked me.

"It is around Manchester," I answered with my squeaky voice.

Godric stood up and walked toward the muggles. He was holding his sword in his hand firmly.

"Don't come near us!" one of the guard shouted at Godric, pointing the spear at Godirc. "Drop that sword!" he added.

"Gentlemen," said Godric as he took another step toward them, still holding his sword, "this is a forest nearby Manchester. York is east of here, so when you walk up in the morning, follow the sun."

"Don't come close to us!" shouted another guard, but he fell on the ground immediately after that. Godric hit the guard's knee with this wide side of the sword and when the guard was on the knee, he hit the guard's neck with the hilt, making the guard unconscious.

Godric turned to another guard. The guard charged toward Godric with his spear, but Godric dodged the spear and hit the hand of the guard with his sword, the guard dropped the spear. Then, Godric blew a kick on the guard's head and knocked him down.

"So, that is taken care of," said Godric as he turned around. He was now looking at the goblins who were still rubbing their head and butts from the fall. "Hey, you guys!" Godric called them.

Goblins turned around and saw Godric standing tall behind them. They jolted at the sight of Godric. Their face was tinted with fear, but Godric smiled to them.

"I won't kill you. Ragnuk did make me a good sword, so I won't kill his subjects. However, you must tell Ragnuk that he shouldn't try to get this sword back from me again. You have seen the power of the lady I am with, right?" Godric turned his head toward me and all of goblin's eyes were fixed on me. "If he comes after me once again, I will make sure this sword is made with both the sweat of the goblin, and the blood of goblin as well."

The goblins looked at both Godric and I in fear. Their face turned terrified and nodded many times.

"Good!" said Godric as he smiled big once again. "Take your pals and leave then."

The goblins grabbed their injured friends. The three goblins who could move turned to Godric for one last time and bowed deeply. Then with a flick of a finger, they were all gone.

After they were gone, I sighed in relief. I stood up on my feet, but I leaned on the one of the boxes.

"You are certainly surprising, Rowena." Godric said as he turned to me. "but this is easier to find my stuff, don't you agree?"

Godric searched around the boxes and other things that had fallen with us. I watched him searching for his belongings on the top of a box. After about ten minutes, Godric found his robe, documents, and his wand. He said he couldn't find his pouch of gold. I told him that gold must be taken by one of the soldiers and he must let it go.

"Well, but we have plenty of golds here," said Godric as he looked into one of the boxes.

"We can't use them," I said to Godric, "we ran away from Vikings with their treasures. They will come after us for sure, probably with their most skilled sorcerers. Leave the gold here. They can track us using the gold. Take food only. We need to get away from here as soon as possible."

"Oh, Okay." Said Godric as he closed the box with the gold. He opened couple more boxes and found few apples and dried meats. Once he was able to find all the food in the box, he came to me. He put down the bags in front of me.

"What is this mean? Do you want me to hold it?" I asked.

"No, no, no, just wait for it," he said. He put his wand at his forehead. From the where the wand touched him, his air turned yellow and his mouth started to pointed out. His already massed up hair became more of mass, like a mane of an animal, and his back hunched like a cat. He put both of his hands on the ground and his knees on the ground as well. Slowly, he turned to a yellow lion.

"What…you are an animagus?" I asked in surprise. I never seen a lion before and I never thought Godric wold be a lion. I thought..he weas closed to a dog than a cat.

Godric nodded and bite the bags with his mouth. He wasn't chewing it but he held it gently in his mouth. Then, he moved his head to signal me to get on his back. I was little bit skeptical, but I did it. I mounted on back of Godric and grabbed his mane. He groaned.

"There is nothing I can hold here," I said in responsed to his groan. "I will hold it gently, but I have to hold it."

The lion nodded and moved his back little bit, made sure I was safely on top of him. Then, he dashed off into the forest.


	6. Chapter 6: Salazar

Chapter 2: Salazar

Salazar, my old friends. If I didn't meet him on that day, at the swamp, I wouldn't be here to write this story.

After Godric turned into a lion and we dashed into the forest, we found ourselves at the edge of the swamp.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"I…don't know. It is too foggy here to see the sun or star for direction, so I just ran away from smell of humans," Godric confessed as he turned into a human form and getting dirt off from his feet and hands.

"Don't you have some sort of 'animal instinct'? You led us to a dead end," I threw a stone into the swamp and watched it. It sunk immediately.

"It is not a dead end," Godric said as he put his hand over my shoulder. "I am sure if we pass this, we will arrive at a city or a town, or somewhere."

"Somewhere is not enough," I commended, "I need to get to a harbor, or somewhere I can take ship to main land Europe."

"Ah, forget about Europe. There is nothing there. Stay here and build a school with me, eh?"

"Shut up," I punched Godric's stomach. "I have no interest in any of that dream of yours. It is your dream, you achieve it. I have my own dream, I will take my path."

"So cold, so cold," Godric murmured, "But you see there? Those snakes."

I looked at the direction Godric was pointing at. I saw couple of snakes slithering into tall grasses. It was very foggy and we could only see grounds around us, but it was no mistake that the two green snakes were able to find its way across the swamp.

"If those snakes can go, I am sure we can go as well. Also, I feel like this is East. We will get to a shore at some point if we head this way!" Godric said proudly and loudly.

"England is an island country. It doesn't matter which way we go to, we will always end up at a shore," I said but getting up on my feet for walk. "I need to get to a harbor, where people are! I need information!"

"You know, sometime animals knows more than humans," said Godric squinting his eye brows.

"What I am looking for is a foreign muggle legendary object. I doubt animals would know of it," I replied. Godric was right. Animals knows a great deal of secrets. It is only the matter of communicating with them. I wished I could talked to birds, that way I could get a news from over the sea, but then I had no such blood for such wicked ability.

"Well, standing here wouldn't let us get to a harbor or anywhere. Why don't we just walk for now?" Godric said.

"Following those snakes?" I asked.

"We gotta follow something, don't you think? I have no idea where we are, and so are you!"

"Fine, fine," I said as I put hands above my head in gesture of giving up. Godric seemed to be more adhere on following the snake through the swamps. Usually Godric was a lay back man who would just sing any random songs, or make one in his taste. It surprised to see such a persistent side of him on such a trivial thing on which way we must take.

The fogs were getting thicker as we walked through the swamp. We could hardly see the tail of the snakes and the smell of rotting fishes and muds were unbearably disgusting. I covered my nose with my hand and kept my eyes on the trails of snakes on the ground. I almost tripped by bones of mammals on the way as well.

"I wish we could see clearly," I whispered to myself.

"I concur, Rowena," said Godric as he followed closely behind me. For some reason, he was behind me at some point, making me tracking those snakes. "I wonder why we took this path."

That was a blow. I turned around and almost slapped his graciously high cheekbone and smash his nose. However, I tripped again and lost my balance. My body weight was pulled backward and I could feel the ground was no longer beneath my feet, then Godric grabbed me by my shoulder.

"That was dangerous," said Godric as he pulled me closer to him. "You almost fell into that swamp!"

"All because of YOU!" I shouted and punched his jaw. Godric was pushed away from him and stumbled backward and fell down. He covered his mouth with both of his hands and yelp in pain.

"What was that for!" Godric shouted back, still covering his mouth. "I bit my tongue!"

"You are the one who insisted on taking this path, then you made me track those snakes! Then, you pretended like it wasn't your idea, and I almost fell into that swamp!" I pointed to the swamp I almost fell into. "Ohhhh, you are such a…"

Then, rain started to pour down and drenched me. It was almost a magical. I stood there, my arm extended to point the swamp and my other hand squeezed in fist form. The rain drops were thick and heavy and my hairs wet and sticking my face. My teeth were clenched together in awe, anger, and rage. My eyes were closed, but I could swear my glares of anger and annoyance could have punctured Godric's head.

"It is raining," said Godric as he felt the heavy, blunt, and thick rain drops with all of his body. He saw me, standing in odd position, clenched teeth, closed eyes, and squinted eyebrows. He immediately too off his wet robe and put it over my head. "We must find a shelter or something. You will get sick again, right?"

I put down my arms and covered my face with my hands. My head started to hurt (not sure it was due to Godric or the rain) but I knew Godric was right. I was going to be sick. It didn't matter how fast the rain fell down, the matter was how long the rain would last. My chest ached, but it was alright, for a moment. Under Godric's robe and led by Godric, We walked in rain through the swamp. The fog certainly disappeared - I wouldn't say it was lifted, but pushed down to ground by the weight of rain. Eventually, the pain got worsen and I fell on my knee.

"No, no, no," said Godric as he pulled me up on my two feet. "My lion form is not suited for these narrow passage of swamps. You can't fell now," said Godric.

I breathed heard and grabbed on my chest. My sights were getting faded and the cold feeling of death and pain emerged from deep inside of me. With my last breath, I pointed the ground with my finger and said, " _Erecto Lutum Domus_!"

"What? what?" Godric asked, and felt the changing of the ground shape beneath him. He grabbed me and quickly walked away from the shaking ground. My magic lifted the ground up and formed a small house, well a shelter. It was nothing but a mud box with a open hole for entry.

"It is a mud house," I said as I grabbed on to Godric's arm. "It won't last long, but…"

"Wait here," said Godric as he put me down. He pulled his own wand and pointed to the mud house in the rain, it was already started to fell down, "I _ncindio Grandios_!" Then a great column of fire came out from Godric's wand and it started to baking the mud house. the shape altered a bit, the roof fell down and the wall was thinned, but I could see the shape was getting harder as more it got baked. I never thought of using fire spell on the mud house to bake the mud for stability. After few minutes, Godric swept his wand and the fire was gone. The mud house was standing still in the rain with white smokes coming out from it. From the rain, the baked mud house cooled down quickly with the sizzling sound.

"It is still bit hot," said Godric as he supported me to the house, "but better than staying outside, right?"

I didn't have any power to nod or say anything. My pain seems to fade away as my vision turned white as well. I could tell the sweats were also wetting my body as well as the cold rains.

"Hang in there, Rowena, you can't die here," said Godric as he sat down at the corner of the mud house and hugged me close to him, to give him his body heat, or at least attempted to. He was wet as a fish in a lake, so he was only making my body colder. However, he didn't know it. He was not so smart, but he did have a warm heart.

In his arm, I lost my consciousness, again. I could faintly hear Godric calling out my names, trying to waking me up, but it only got smaller as my mind was pulled away from my reality.

When I woke up again, the rain stopped already. I was laying on the ground with Godric's robe beneath me. I didn't know the exact time, but I knew it was a night. I could see starry night from entry hall of the mud house. The sky was clear and the air was fresh. The disgusting smell was gone and the pleasant smell of grass was filling in my nostril. My heart was still aching but manageable. I put my hand over my head and raised myself up. My head was still spinning and hazy. My eyes hurt as well, like burning. I shook my head a little and took a deep breath. I grabbed on to the wall of the mud house and tried to get up on my two feet, then I felt a heavy weight pressing down on my stomach. I opened my eyes a little and looked down. I found a giant snake sitting on my stomach, actually more of resting on my stomach and leg.

"AHHHH!" I screamed loudly. The snake raised its head and looked straight into my eyes, as if it knew I was in fear. I never saw such a big snake. It sticked out its tongue and whipped in the air. Then it turned its head toward the entry hole.

"Rowena?" Godric shouted as he walked in with a cooked fish on a stick in his hand. "Are you awake? Are you alright?"

"What is this?!" I asked to Godric, looking at the giant snake.

"Oh, that is Selim, Salazar's pet snake," said Godric as he came into the small mud house and sat next to me. He caressed the snake's back with his finger as if it was a cute dog or something.

"Not a pet snake," said an unfamiliar voice. "He is my traveling companion, just like your sick friend is to you, Godric." A stranger with shoulder length jet black hair in white robe was stood by the mud house entry hole.

"Ah, sorry, sorry. I never met someone who can talked to snakes without turning into one. I forgot Selim was your friend." said Godric as he turned to the entry hole. Godric turned back to see me and smiled and pointed to the stranger, "He is Salazar Slytherin. He saved you, Rowena! Your body turned cold and your face was white. I didn't know what to do, then he showed up like a hero. He was somehow able to warm your body up and calm your shaking body with his medicines!"

"What?" I asked back. I never knew a medicine could compensate the pain I was enduring, nevertheless counteracting the symptoms comes with the rain. I looked at the stranger by the entry hole with shock covering my face.

Salazar smiled to me, not showing an ounce of emotion to me, and bowed his head and said, "Nice to meet you, Miss Ravenclaw, I am Salazar Slytherin."


	7. Chapter 7: Salazar

Chapter 2: Salazar (Cont)

Salazar always had the mysterious vibe around him. He had the darkest black hair I have ever seen and his eyes were green as moss. He had the thin face that his cheekbones stuck out like mountains. His lips were thin and long, always curled up at the end. When we were all young, he used to smile often and his lips only spoke the truth and sweet words.

My first meeting with him was not ideal. I passed out in the arms of Godric, almost dying but not dying. It wasn't easy for him, nor required of him, to save a stranger like myself, especially when he knew some of dark magic. Nevertheless, that was the first thing he asked to me.

After I gained my consciousness, I also sat outside with Godric and Salazar by the fire they built while I was unconscious. Godric was able to catch few fishes with his swords (by throwing them like a spear into water) and they were having a humble dinner. After the rain, the sky was clear and the swamp didn't look so creepy as it was before. After I expressed my hunger as well, Godric got up and went to catch few more fishes. When Godric was far away from the fire, Salazar turned his gaze to him.

"I... had to see your chest when I was saving you," said Salazar suddenly without much of introduction for what he was going to say.

"Oh," I pursed my lips and nod. I knew if he saved me, then he must have examined my body beforehand.

"That gem stuck in your chest, it is not good. You know that, right?" Salazar said, with most sincerely sympathetic smile with eyes of pity.

"I know," I answered shortly. "However, I don't have much choice."

"You sound like you didn't want it," said Salazar. "Then why did you get it in the first place?"

"I didn't get it for myself. My parents….they gave it to me as their farewell gift, wishing me to be the greatest Dark wizard of my time." I said it with the most apathetic way I could possibly say it. However, there was anger deep down in my chest twitching as I said it.

"That is…forbidden spell. Why would your parents wanted you have it? It only brings…," Salazar carefully laid out his words, with the upmost caution, probably knowing I don't have habit of talking of such thing.

"It only brings pain and imbalanced power," I finished the sentence for Salazar. "My parents didn't care about it when they gave it to me, you know. They thought the pain was the salt of creation of the great wizard. When they realized they can't be the greatest pair of dark wizards, they decided to curse me and cast spell on me to make me into one, hoping I will shine the family name in the Dark Magic world. They didn't care about the imbalance of the magic. All they cared was the power it would bring."

Salazar quietly sat by the fire, biting his lower lips in frustration. He was an excellent magician with deep knowledge in both potion and dark magic. He probably knew much more of the curses and spells than my parents have.

"I can't undo the curse. Only one who casted curse can undo the curse, but this curse requires the life of the spell caster. If one is casting it oneself, then only portion of life span for weaker effect, but can undo the curse at any time. My parents did this to me and they are both dead because they casted this spell on me. There is none who can undo this curse on this world," I said.

Speaking it to Salazar made tears forming at the end of my eyes. By speaking it loudly, it had different affect than reminding myself silently. It just amplified the gravity of the situation I was in, and there was no breakthrough. As I spoke each words, I could feel my hope for finding the 'holy grail' and cure this incurable curse crushed down into pieces.

"I tried everything," I continued with tears rolling down my cheek. My voice was chocking and I could feel my lungs expanded with hot airs. "Since they died, I went through all the books and papers they possessed to undo this curse. But…I couldn't. It only made it worse. Have you heard that poison can be defeated with other poison? But when one tried to cure a dark magic with the power of dark magic, it doesn't work. It just…amplifies the power."

I put my head down to hide my crying face. I wiped my tears with end of my robe and breathed in deeply to calm myself down. For a moment, there was silence in the air. Then, Salazar broke that silence.

"I can't undo your curse, but I will be able to help you with the pain," said Salazar. "I know someone who possessed the power of light, the contradictory power against Dark magic."

I lifted my face a little to see him with one eye. He was smiling with both his lips and eyes. He put his hand in his bag and took out a vile with clear liquid. The vile was sealed completely with a sealing spell cap.

"This," said Salazar as he showed the vile to me closely. "This is what made you better when the rain poured down."

"What is it?" I asked, still with chocking voice and red eyes.

"Water from the Holy Cup," said Salazar. "Also known as the Holy Grail."


	8. Chapter 8: Salazar

Chapter 2: Salazar (Cont)

"Holy Grail?" I asked in shock. "The…muggle myth…that cup?"

"Well, I don't know about muggle myth, but it definitely associated with muggles in its own history," said Salazar as he crossed his arms. "I don't remember clearly but I did hear it was used by one of the wizard to help muggles long time ago."

"What…what does it do?" I stammered my words and body turned toward Salazar. My eyes were gotten wide and my nerves were getting sharper.

"Well, the water inside of the cup never runs out. Once it is poured out of the cup, it turns into just a fine wine. However, if you drink the water from the cup itself, it has power of healing and magic. I can only carry small portion in these vile because its made from the same material as the cup," said Salazar as he showed me the two vile with sealing cap on. "The water from the cup is more powerful than these viles. I have witnessed the miracle myself couple times. I think it can ease or ,possibly, cure your curse."

The word 'cure' was ringing in my head. The possibility of getting better, be a normal person, has a normal life – it all seems unreal to me but it was what I wanted desperately since my youth. I put my palm over my heart and felt the hard stone implanted in my chest. I could feel the skin around the stone have gotten harden – petrified.

The stone – the green gem with glowing lights inside of its rough surface – was the core of the curse and me. My parents who were obsessed with blood and flesh of men (just like all the other Dark Magic researchers) thought the heart was the core of all magical power. However, it was so fragile. The thick muscles will stop beating one day and it could scratch, tear, and pierce so easily and cease beating, grew cold and die with the magic power it once possessed. So, my parents cursed my heart, turned it into stone and cursed it some more, so my heart could be hard as diamond and radiant like star – also amplifies the magic within it that my body couldn't handle it. The stone – my heart – was eating my body from inside, turning my warm flesh and red blood into hard stones. I have done all the spells I could do to stop the petrifying. I grew my own sets of Mandragora in my cottage, but even the mandragora juice couldn't slow down the petrifying once I entered the age of puberty. I cursed my own body to slow the curse of my parents, but it just backfired and broke my wand.

My wand broke frequently. It actually meant nothing to me. It was different back then – any wizard could pick a stick and turned it into a wand. We didn't know the existence of Olivanders , the wandmaker family residing in London since beginning of centuries. We didn't know about the cores of the wand and the special woods to make good one. I just outside and picked up a stick, cut off any small branches, smoothed handle – then put my magic in there. However, whenever I used magic, the power amplified and I couldn't control it. Eventually, I had to break the wand to stop the magic, or the magic broke the wand.

Not having a wand didn't mean anything at all since I could just use magic without wand, but wand made it easier for me to control. It was like a pipe to handle rush of water coming out from facet. Well, if the water's current is too strong, it would rip the pipe and burst anyway - but it definitely helped me.

I eventually acquired the perfect wand that could withstand my power, but that was another story for later time in my life.

"So, where is this holy cup? The holy grail?" I asked anxiously. I wanted to just fly there if I could. I could think of couple of spells in my head for flying.

"Well, it is in Wales," said Salazar as he squinted his eyebrows. He bit his lip and swayed his eyes away. "Well…oh shit," he murmured.

"What?" I asked worryingly.

"I can't take you to the cup," he said as he scratched his neck. "I mean…I can't really….well…shit, I can't trust you guys."

Salazar looked straight into my eyes and said that. I stared back at him with bits of shock and lots of determination, then Salazar covered his face with his hands.

"I didn't mean to spill this information," said Salazar, groaning behind his hands. "I am supposed to keep this secret to all, but I saw your chest and you were crying….Ugh."

"Well, you did it anyway. Just spill rest of it," I urged.

"I can't," said Salazar with strong voice. He got up and grabbed his bag and a big cane. "If you are really destine to find the cup, then you will be able to find it. No doubt of it. However, I can't tell you anything more than what I already have told you."

"Wait!" I called out, "Hey! Wait a minute!" I tried to get up but my leg felt funny and I collapsed down.

"Be careful," Said Salazar as he put on his hood over his head, "you wouldn't be able to move freely for few more hours." He turned away and walked away.

"Wait!" I called out, but Salazar didn't even flinched.

I sat by the fire with my powerless body and watched Salazar walking away. The thought of losing the only clue I had for the cure of the curse made my eyes swamp in tears. I tried to move, but my body didn't seem to care my will.

"Wait!" I called out again, yet expecting for the same cold and unchanged reaction from Salazar.

Then, something came out from the swamp and ran into Salazar who was walking. Salazar fell down with big sound. Because of the suddenness of the event, I didn't know what happened exactly for few seconds. When the thing came out from the swamp raised its head and stood on its own, I realized what had happened. It was Godric.

"Where are you going, Salazar? Rowena was calling you!" said Godric as he grabbed Salazar's white hood with his mudded hand.

"Wait," cried Salazar as Godric raised him up. "I have to go."

"Neh, neh," Godric shook his head to sides and pulled him. "We need you, Salazar. I don't know what to do when she collapses again. You are a healer, right? You wouldn't abandon a damsel in distress, aren't you?"

Godric was asking questions, yet he didn't wait for any of the answers. He simply pulled Salazar toward the fire against Salazar's will. Salazar struggled as he was pulled back from his behind. He tried to unhand Godric, but it seemed like Godric was holding Salazar's hood tightly than Salazar hoped for.

"It is dangerous to move at night," said Godric as he released Salazar by the fire, yet pushed him down to ground. "We will all stay together closely and leave at the daylight."

"I must go," said Salazar as he raised himself once again.

"Sit down," said Godric as he pulled Salazar's robe down. Salazar was pulled down to ground. "I heard you guys talking. Rowena wanna see this miracle cup, right? Why can't you show it to us?"

"I can't!" Salazar cried loudly. "I can't just show you strangers the cup! It is very valuable!"

"If you worry about us being stranger and not trust worthy, why did you help us from the beginning? What if we robbed you or murdered you?" Godric asked with his innocent, yet confident face.

"Ha!" Salazar laughed in absurdity, "I wouldn't be attacked by you! I helped you because I knew if you tried to attack me, I would have killed you before you do."

"Well, you couldn't get away from me just now," said Godric with straight face, the face that carried the seriousness and sense of sincerity. It was the most annoying characteristic of Godric – he would ask most sounded and annoying question in sincere face, so no one could get mad at him for being a jerk.

"I…I just didn't want to hurt you!" Salazar said loudly as he pushed Godric's hand on his robe.

"So you care about us!" Godric said loudly. "You are such a nice person!"

"I mean…," Salazar stammered in confusion and looked at Godric as if he was crazy.

"If you care about us, then why can't you help Rowena? I don't need any help, but Rowena needs one. Nice person like you wouldn't abandon a sick girl in the middle of snake swamp, right? RIGHT?" Godric put his face right in front of Salazar and stared deeply into his eyes.

"Er…Eh….NO!" Salazar screamed loudly. "I see you are trying to convince me, but I simply can't! The cup isn't even mine!"

"Oh?" Godric asked with questioning voice and looked at me.

I looked back at Godric with curious and confused eyes. Godric turned his head toward Salazar again and smiled.

"So, the cup isn't yours, that is why you can't show it to us, right? Then whose cup is it?" Godric asked.

"…..shit," Salazar murmured. He covered his face with his hands once again and groaned. "I. CAN'T. TELL. YOU."

"Why not?" Godric asked with cheerful voice, almost at the level of happiness.

"Because…," Salazar put down his hands and spoke, then I interfered.

"I give you my word that we will do no harm," I said.

Salazar looked at me with his eyebrows squinted and said, "I can't just trust your word, can I?"

"Well, then let's do the vow," I proposed the idea, "The Unbreakable Vow."


End file.
